Press Release

Leading Healthcare Elective Provider, Work the World, Launches a New Student Elective Programme in the Philippines

Work the World offers medical, nursing and midwifery students the chance to combine high-quality electives with a fascinating insight into the challenges of healthcare delivery in Southeast Asia’s most beautiful destination.

Brighton, United Kingdom, December 19, 2012 --(PR.com)-- The new programme will initially be for medical, nursing and midwifery students. This will be followed shortly afterwards with dentistry, physiotherapy, radiography and pharmacy placements.

Rob Giddings, Work the Worlds Operations Manager talks about the new development:

“We chose the Philippines for several reasons. As a country it continues to struggle in its bid to eradicate developing country diseases like tuberculosis and dengue fever, but also faces the onslaught of new communicable and lifestyle problems like heart disease and cancer. Couple this with the enormous variety of healthcare settings and primarily English-speaking supervisors, and you have a programme that offers excellent learning opportunities as well as insight into the challenges of global healthcare.”

Work the Word are well known for their healthcare electives, sending thousands of international students to partner hospitals in Tanzania, Ghana, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Argentina each year. Every placement is tailored to a student's interest, and contracts are in place to guarantee safety and security of student, hospital staff and patient. They follow guidelines laid out by regulatory bodies, universities and support Dundee University's research, in turn supported by the GMC, on getting the best out of healthcare electives overseas. Rachel travelled with them to Dar es Salaam:

"They were so organised and helpful before, during and after the elective. They assisted with our visa and organised our work permit, airport transfer and orientation of the area and hospital. I felt so safe and comfortable. It’s cliché but it really was a life changing experience."

Faye Stickings, Work the World’s Managing Director talks about the benefits of electives overseas:

“Working in a developing country is an amazing opportunity to use, develop and share your skills whilst gaining experience working with communicable diseases and advanced pathologies that are rare in the Western world. Our new programme in the Philippines provides even more options for students when it comes to planning their elective.”

Work the World is a UK registered company. For more information visit http://www.worktheworld.co.uk

Rob Giddings is Operations Manager at Work the World, UK

Faye Stickings is Managing Director at Work the World, UK

Dundee University identified four key learning domains for electives – clinical knowledge and skills, attitudes, global perspectives and personal and professional development. They also noted two broader issues – institutional benefits and moral/ethical considerations. In every case they felt opportunities were missed due to a lack of structure and planning. The conclusion was that electives do not benefit from ad-hoc arrangements. Dowell J, Merrylees N. Electives: isn't it time for a change? Med Educ. 2009 Feb;43(2):104-5.

The GMC is the General Medical Council. Their advice on clinical placements for medical students is to ensure placements should have clearly defined learning objectives.

Rachel Dawson is a medical student from Queen’s University Belfast. She travelled to Dar es Salaam on the Work the World programme in July 2012.

Supporting information: Imagery, copy and further quotes can be provided.

Contact: Catrina Bassett, Marketing Manager, Work the World – cat@worktheworld.co.uk